8 


MEMORIAL 


OF THE 


JOURNEYMEN BOOKBINDERS 


li 


WASHINGTON, D. C., 


OF 



TO THE CONGRESS OE THE UNITED STATES AGAINST 
THE RECOMMENDATION OE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE 
ON PRINTING TO REDUCE THE WAGES OF THE EM¬ 
PLOYEES OF THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
AND BINDERY TO THE AVERAGE PRICE PAID PER 
HOUR FOR THE SAME WORK, OR PIECE WORK, IN THE 
CITIES OF BALTIMORE, PHILADELPHIA AND NEW 
YORK. 



To the Members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 


States of America in Conyress assembled : 

Gentlemen : In the report submitted to the House of Representa¬ 
tives, Friday, May 12, by the majority of the House Committee on 
Printing, they recommend that the House Committee on Appropriations 
be instructed to embody in the sundry civil bill provisions recommend¬ 
ing a radical change in the law now governing the Public Printer, and 
further regulating the administration of affairs in that department of the 
Government. One section of the act to be submitted to the considera¬ 
tion of the Committee on Civil Sundry Appropriations provides “ that 
from and after the passage of this act it shall be the duty ot the Gov¬ 
ernment Printer to pay no greater price for labor performed by printers, 
bookbinders and other employees in the Government Printing Office, 
for each hour’s work or piece work, than the average price paid for an 
hour’s work for piece work of the same description in the cities of 
New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore.” 

In view of the circumstances which have induced the House Commit¬ 
tee on Printing to recommend the enactment of a law providing for a 
change in the present law governing the Government Printing Office, 






and providing for a reduction of the present rates of wages paid in the 
printing and binding departments to the scale of prices paid in the 
printing offices and binderies in the cities of New York, Philadelphia 
and Baltimore, we respectfully ask that the following protest to the 
proposed reduction may receive your due consideration and approval. 

After a careful review of the report of the House Committee on 
Printing, we find that especial attention is directed to the Inaugura¬ 
tion of a system of economy in the management of that department, 
over which they have, to a certain extent, supervision. To this feature 
of the report we do not presume to offer any objection, as we fully ap¬ 
preciate and recognize the wisdom of that policy which looks to a just, 
proper and consistent retrenchment in the administration of the finan¬ 
cial and business affairs of the Government; but when a system of 
legislation is proposed which necessarily operates to the injury of the 
working class, and subjects labor to the unreasonable demands of cap¬ 
italists and monopolists, it then becomes a subject of vital importance 
to your memorialists, who constitute a part of that useful element of 
society. 

In the report of the Committee on Printing you will perceive that 
the necessity of recommending this reduction in the present rates of 
wages is based upon the statement that the Government is paying ex¬ 
travagant prices for printing and binding material and labor, which is 
claimed to be from 30 to 125 per cent, in excess of market rates, or 
prices paid for labor and material in cities herein mentioned. 

The question as to the price paid by the Public Printer for material 
it is not our intention, to take under consideration; that is a matter 
which belongs exclusively to that official, whom, we presume, is ready 
and willing, when the opportunity is afforded him, to answer. We 
feel, however, that we should be direlect in our duty to ourselves and 
those depending upon our labor for a support not to submit a respect¬ 
ful protest against that unjust policy of political economy which, if 
carried out, must operate to the serious injury, financially and pecuni¬ 
arily, of a large, intelligent, respectable and industrious class of Gov¬ 
ernment employees. It has been truly said, “ That there is but one 
consideration that would justify a reduction of the prices of wages, and 
that is a corresponding reduction in the cost of living.” The wages we 
are now receiving only correspond with the cost of living in Washing¬ 
ton. Our pay is simply fifty cents per hour, or $4 per day ; this corres¬ 
ponds with the wages paid to the printers. It may not be out of place 
to state, in this connection, that we are not the recipients of the same 
privileges and immunities granted to the clerical force employed in 
other departments of the Government. We have no thirty days’ leave 
of absence, with pay; on the contrary, every hour we lose, through 
sickness or by furlough, is charged against us. We do not make mention 


3 


of this fact by way of complaint, but merely to disabuse the minds of 
those who labor under the impression that we are the recipients of a 
fixed salary. As reference has been made to the eight-hour law, it 
may be proper to make mention of the fact that, since the organization 
of the Congressional Printing Office, all the employees of the Govern¬ 
ment Bindery, doing regular work, have had a stipulated amount to 
do per day, said amount being fixed at the rate paid for the same num¬ 
ber of books under the contract system. On the adoption of the eight- 
hour law, they voluntarily agreed to execute the same amount under 
the new law that they did during the existence of the ten-hour system, 
and have continued to do so up to the present time. To the correct¬ 
ness of this statement the foreman of the bindery can testify, if called 
upon. 

The following extract from a former report of Senator Anthony, 
chairman of the Senate Committee on Printing, to which we call your 
attention, will demonstrate the fact that under the present law 
governing the Congressional Printer, the work is executed in a better 
style and at less cost to the Government than under the contract 
system, the restoration of which the majority of the House Committee 
on Printing recommend. Senator Anthony says : 

k ‘ The testimony of the Treasury Department is that the printing and 
binding that was formerly executed by contract, and that is now 
executed at the Government Printing Office, is 50 per cent, better in 
quality, and about 25 per cent, cheaper in price, than when it was ex¬ 
ecuted under the old system. The contract system was abandoned, 
and the work was transferred to the Government Printing Office on ac¬ 
count of the extravagance and frauds under the former. The contract 
system, which is the fairest in theory, is susceptible of enormous 
frauds when applied to mechanical work and to work of an indefinite 
character. Besides the cheapness and superior excellence of the work, 
as at present executed, there is great advantage in the uniformity of 
the blanks and blank books. This uniformity adds to the authenticity 
and responsibility of the returns of officials, and diminishes clerical 
labor at the departments.” 

Thus the change in the law, so far as they are concerned, has been, 
in reality, a gain to the Government, in saving'a considerable expen¬ 
diture of money for fuel and gas, as well as in the wear and tear of 
machinery. This may appear, at the first glance, of little consequence, 
but when we figure up the amount saved in this branch of the Govern¬ 
ment Printing Office, during the winter months, it constitutes an item 
of some importance in the economy of fuel and gas. 

We further protest against the recommendation of the Committee 
on Printing, for the reason that under the present scale of prices, 
we are but receiving a fair and reasonable compensation for the labor 
we perform. 


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If you will carefully examine the market reports of the necessaries 
of life, as reported in the leading commercial journals in Washington, 
Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, you will find the price of 
produce in Washington much higher than the cost of the same articles 
of consumption in the other cities herein mentioned. This being true, 
you can readily perceive that the wages now paid are not more than 
sufficient to enable us to meet the necessary expenses of every day 
life. That the cost of living here is in the excess of cities north and 
east, is clearly demonstrated in the fact that many of the employees 
of the various departments of the Government find it more economical 
to live in Baltimore, notwithstanding the expense of traveling back 
and forth, than to live in Washington. 

While directing your attention to this important question, which de¬ 
serves your earnest consideration, we embody in our memorial the 
following article on the “ cost of living,” copied from a leading com¬ 
mercial paper in Baltimore, of Tuesday, March the 21st, 1876. 

“The wholesale ‘slashing’ of the salaries of the Federal office¬ 
holders by the House of Representatives, suggests an inquiry as to 
whether there has been a decrease in the cost of living that will enable 
those who have been deprived of fifteen per cent, of their income to 
adjust their household expenses to the new schedule of wages. A very 
large majority of the people who work for a living, whether with their 
bands or their brains, barely manage to keep out of debt. The reduc¬ 
tions, proposed by the House Committee on Appropriations, will be 
equivalent to the loss of one day’s wages each week, as compared with 
present rates. Has there been a reduction in the prices of the neces¬ 
saries of life that will permit the class affected by the pending appro¬ 
priation bill to retain their situations without totally changing their 
habits of life ? 

“Not being familiar with Washington prices, we shall consider the 
matter as if the contemplated reduction of fifteen per cent, applied to 
the clerks, the school teachers and the preachers of Baltimore city. 
Such of them as now receive $1,500 per annum would, under the new 
schedule, get $1,275; those that get $1,200 would be cut down to 
$1,020, and those that now manage to make both ends meet on $1,000 
a year would have to be content with $850. It must be understood 
that these people cannot live in the narrow streets and cheap houses 
in which the poorer classes dwell in apparent unconsciousness of the 
squalid surroundings. They are mostly persons of genteel tastes and 
good education. Many of them have grown up in cultivated and even 
luxurious homes, and would revolt at the very suggestion of a tenement 
house as a-fit place of abode. Yet, between them and the cheap quar¬ 
ters tenanted by the poor, there is but a narrow border land, spanned 
by a salary that probably exceeds the actual cost of living under the 


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cheapest possible conditions by $200, or perhaps $300. Take this 
margin away, and they would be obliged to make a public confession 
of poverty by making no further attempt ‘ to keep up appearances.’ 

“ There is but one consideration, therefore, that would justify a re¬ 
duction of salaries, namely, a corresponding reduction in the cost of 
living. If we cut off the proceeds of one day’s labor in every week, 
while the necessary expenses of the clerk and his family remain as 
before, we break down the thin wall of partition between competence 
and poverty. Has there been any perceptible decline in the price of 
the staple articles of household consumption from the rates that ruled 
in 1873, when there was no thought of cutting down wages ? Is there 
any man living in a respectable neighborhood in the city of Baltimore 
who pays fifteen per cent, less to his landlord than he did in 1873? 
Flour is something cheaper by the barrel, but inasmuch as the great 
majority of housekeepers buy their bread from the baker, a reduction 
of one dollar per barrel in the price makes no difference, as a loaf 
of bread costs as much now as it did then. Certainly there has 
been no reduction in the price of meats and poultry. Potatoes are 
cheap, but they are never dear, and the same may be said of turnips 
and cabbage. Apples are unusually high, and all canned vegetables 
sell at the usual prices. We do not think that there is a housekeeper 
in the city that fiuds his ‘ marketing ’ expenses less than in 1873. We 
believe that coal and wood are higher now than they were then. 

In the matter of clothing there has been probably a small reduc¬ 
tion in price, but not enough to make any appreciable difference in the 
annual outlay. Beady made suits for men are sold for less than they 
were in 1873, but the merchant tailors have not made any large reduc¬ 
tion either in fine or common clothing. Upon the whole we believe 
that a man who gets a salary of $1,000 or $1,200 a year is obliged to 
use as much economy now r , in order to keep his family expenses within 
his income, as he did in 1873. Should he quit housekeeping and go to 
boarding it will require $600 a year to pay for the subsistence of him¬ 
self and wife at the cheapest boarding house that can be found in a re¬ 
spectable neighborhood. If he has three children his boarding bill 
will be $1,000 per annum, and provided his salary is only that much 
he will have nothing left to buy clothing. From these figures it is 
easy to see how a reduction of fifteen per cent, in salaries in Baltimore 
would drive a large number of intelligent, genteel people into poverty. 

“ Will not the proposed reduction in the pay of the Department 
clerks at Washington have the same effect as if they lived in Balti¬ 
more ? We are aware that the bill reported by the House Committee 
on Appropriations does not apply to salaries below $1,200; but the 
difference in the cost of living in the two cities makes a salary of $1,000 
in Baltimore more than equal to a salary of $1,300 in Washington. 


6 


Kents are cheaper here, and there is so much difference in the price of 
nearly every article of food that many Washingtonians find it profit¬ 
able to pay the railroad fare between the two cities and attend the 
Baltimore markets. It seems to us that the effect of a reduction of 
fifteen per cent, in the salaries of Government oificers will drive all 
the married men out of the departments.” 

We do not consider it necessary to enter further into a statement 
as to the difference in the cost of living in Washington and other cities, 
to which your attention has been directed, as you have, doubtless, had 
ample means of informing yourselves by personal experience. We 
desire, however, to bear testimony to the truthfulness of the forcible 
arguments presented in opposition to the reduction of the salaries of 
the clerical force of the Departments of the Government, and, to say 
that the same objections to the reduction of the pay of clerks is equally 
applicable to the employees of every department of the Government, 
without distinction as to their calling or occupation. 

With all due deference to the recommendations of the House Com¬ 
mittee on Printing, we do not consider the proposition to regulate the 
scale of prices by the average prices paid in Hew York, Philadelphia 
and Baltimore correct in principle, as the spirit of unfair competition 
caused by the employment of unskilled labor in the trade in those 
cities, and the consequent low wages paid for such work, would give 
an average unfair and entirely too low. Skilled workmen in Hew 
York receive higher rates of pay than that paid in the Government 
book bindery. 

notwithstanding the efforts of corn exchanges, coal exchanges, trade 
unions and other associations of like character, to affix what they con¬ 
sider a remunerative price for their commodities or their labor, yet the 
law of supply and demand, under our present system of trade and 
legislation, does ultimately fix or regulate the price of labor and its 
products. But, although the experience of the past teaches us that 
certain effects follow certain causes under certain circumstances, the legis- 

a 

lation of the past, based upon the theory that labor was a mere mar¬ 
ketable commodity, being entirely in the interest of capital, was the 
primary circumstance causing the resulting dependence of the laborer 
upon the state of the market for his rate of pay, we respectfully sub¬ 
mit that it does not follow, therefore, that those circumstances are in¬ 
flexible or unchangeable ; and we had hoped when Congress adopted 
the law known as the eight-hour law, that a brighter day was dawning 
for the laborer; that in the fullness of the light of that day he wduld 
not be placed in the market of his country, upon the same level with 
the products of his skill or industry; that in the legislation of the future, 
statesmen would recognize workingmen as something more than ma¬ 
chines, having higher aspiration and higher duties to themselves and 


7 


their country than' the daily one of ministering to the wants and pleas¬ 
ures of the moneyed class of society; that expedients would be de¬ 
vised, upon the granting of charters or special privileges to corpora¬ 
tions or capitalists, to secure to the laborer, under such franchise, a 
fair si tare of the profits of his industry. That their hopes may not be 
disappointed, your memorialists earnestly pray. 


ALFRED THOMAS, 

F. R. CUNNINGHAM, 
R. G. LOWEY, 

D. W. BARNITZ, 

A. G. HULLETT, 


Committee of Journeymen Bookbinders 1 Association , 






R. BERESFORD, PRINTER, 523 SEVENTH STREET. 


















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